What Happened

Sometimes her voice gets low 

like she’s telling me a secret.

I think people can’t listen 

to certain kinds of stories, 

she says. When they start

to hear it, they start
to change it, to listen instead 

to their fear.

It changes memory. 

That’s why when I told 

what happened,

it was misunderstood. 

People heard
their own fear: the stranger

at the door. His bouquet 

of pallid flowers.